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Mexican Invasion Title: Pope says Trump is not a Christian U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is 'not Christian' because of his views on immigration, Pope Francis said on his way back to Rome from Mexico. The Pope said, however, he did not want to advise American Catholics on whether or not to vote for Trump. Trump fired back immediately, telling a packed room at a coastal South Carolina country club: 'For a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful.' The Pope's dramatic intervention came in a freewheeling conversation with reporters on his flight back from a visit to Mexico. Francis was asked about Trump and some of his statements, such as vowing to build a wall between the United States and Mexico if he becomes president. 'A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,' Francis said in answer to a specific question about Trump's views. 'This is not in the gospel.' Asked if American Catholics should vote for someone with Trump's views, Francis said: 'I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that. We must see if he said things in that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt,' he said. Trump issued a furious response, reading a lengthy statement from the podium on a campaign stop. He reflected on the seismic impact of crossing swords with the leader of the world's largest religious denomination, and shrugged it off. 'Now it's probably going to be all over the world. Who the hell cares? I don't care!' he said. 'We have to stop illegal immigration ... and crime.' Trump blasted the Vatican for what he said was a naive outlook on the ISIS terror army, saying in a statement released to reporters that 'If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS's ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened.' 'ISIS would have been eradicated unlike what is happening now with our all talk, no action politicians.' On his last day in Mexico, Pope Francis said a Mass on the U.S. border, where he railed against immigration policies that force many underground and into the hands of drug gangs and human smugglers. Trump has also said he would deport millions of illegal migrants if he wins the November U.S. election. Last week he told Fox Business television that Pope Francis did not understand the Mexican border issues. 'The pope is a very political person. I think he doesn't understand the problems our country has. I don't think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico,' he said. Asked if he felt he was being used as a pawn of Mexico, Francis said he didn't know. 'I leave that judgment to you, the people.' But he seemed quite pleased to hear that Trump had called him a 'political' figure, noting that Aristotle had described the human being as a 'political animal.' 'Thank God he said I was a politician because Aristotle defined the human person as 'animal politicus'. So at least I am a human person.' The Pope had used his visit to highlight immigration by celebrating mass in Ciudad Juarez, which sits directly on the border with El Paso. The final day on Wednesday was the most symbolic and politically bold moment of Francis' trip, with hundreds of thousands gathering for Mass at a Ciudad Juarez fairground while an estimated 30,000 more watched via simulcast at a football stadium just across the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas. Francis also aimed a message north of the border at a time of increasingly tough presidential campaign rhetoric on immigration in the United States. The pope appealed for governments to open their hearts to the 'human tragedy' of forced migration. 'No more death! No more exploitation!' he implored. Francis stopped short of calling outright for the U.S. to open its borders, but he urged recognition that the multitudes fleeing gangland killings and extortion in their homelands are victims. 'We cannot deny the humanitarian crisis which in recent years has meant the migration of thousands of people, whether by train or highway or on foot, crossing hundreds of kilometers through mountains, deserts and inhospitable zones,' he said. 'They are our brothers and sisters, who are being expelled by poverty and violence, drug trafficking and organized crime.' Before the Mass, Francis paused at the border for a silent prayer in memory of migrants who died trying to reach the United States. He also blessed several hundred migrants sitting on the other side of the fence. Angelica Ortiz, one of those invited to be on the U.S. side, said she left Ciudad Juarez because drug traffickers threatened her son's life and now lives in El Paso after being granted asylum. 'I'm overcome by emotion,' Ortiz said afterward, practically speechless. 'A lot of emotion.' Earlier in the trip, Francis appeared to go beyond the normally gentle criticism that popes make on foreign trips, holding the feet of Mexico's powerful to the fire again and again. On his first full day in the country, Francis told President Enrique Pena Nieto and other members of the government in a speech at the National Palace that public officials must be honest and not be seduced by privilege and corruption. Observers said the pontiff's actions, words and choice of events showed he feels both the Mexican church and the government have failed the country's poorest and most vulnerable. 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#1. To: Willie Green (#0)
I guess the Pope has decided to team up with Glen "psycho" Beck.
#2. To: Stoner (#1)
Beck isn't a Christian either... he's a Mormon heretic... not much different than a Scientologist.
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